Care sector to get extra OH support under government reforms

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The government intends to set up a bespoke occupational health portal for social care providers to help them find out more about OH and access support and providers in their local areas.
The initiative was unveiled this week as part of the Department of Health and Social Care’s (DHSC) adult social care reform white paper.
The document, People at the Heart of Care, said the portal will enable social care providers “to obtain information about occupational health, and link themselves with occupational health providers or initiatives in their area.”
Alongside this, the DHSC said it intended to design, set up and run a pilot scheme “to explore collective purchasing and subsidies of occupational health provision for small and medium-sized care providers.”
This echoes the government’s wider intentions, as outlined in its response to the Health is everyone’s business consultation published in the summer, to develop and pilot a subsidy model to make access to OH more of a viable option for small businesses and people who are self-employed.
Other workplace health and wellbeing initiatives for the social care sector outlined in the document include investment in more one-to-one counselling for care workers and more group mental health support, including facilitated peer support and online services.

The intention is also to expand access to